When It Snows, It Blizzards

First of all, I want to assure everyone that I had an absolutely wonderful vacation visiting my family in New Mexico for the Christmas holiday and I plan at some point to muse over the events, observations and funny bits at some point, but I realize that I just cannot get past everything that has happened since Tuesday morning first. Part of me wanted to write everything chronologically but part of me is just a bundle of anxiety and exasperation. What else can happen this year? Already even!

Tuesday when I was traveling back from New Mexico to Portland, the snow storm caused my flight in Atlanta to be canceled. I, of course, couldn’t call anyone because my cell phone was dead and the charger was in my luggage (this will become important to the story in a bit). It took over an hour of standing in line with my stressed out dog in his carrier (despite tranquilizers) to get rebooked on a flight leaving on Wednesday at 12:30pm. Then Delta booked me a room at the Red Roof Inn for a rate of $56/night (they apparently got other people into the Hilton and the Hyatt for the same rate) which I had to pay myself because they don’t have to pay hotel stays if it’s an Act of God that causes a flight cancellation. Now, apparently, when they rebook your flight, they don’t give you back your luggage; instead, they give you an overnight kit which contains:

• a razor
• a thumb-sized container of deodorant
• a toothbrush and a small container of toothpaste
• a folding hairbrush
• a see-through white XL Delta t-shirt
• a packet of laundry detergent

I can only assume that the detergent is there so you can wash the clothes you’ve been traveling in but then you only have to wear the see-through t-shirt to wear to the laundry room in the hotel which seems a bit unseemly.

I did end up buying a new cell phone charger in the airport so I could call work, my friend who was supposed to pick me up, and my parents. Then the next morning I also talked to my neighbor. My mother wanted to know why I didn’t just invest in a calling card, but in my opinion, they would have cost the same and at least with the charger I have something to show for it.

By the way, the Red Roof Inn turned out to be infested with mold and the beds were in questionable shape. My room had two doubles and when I sat on one of them, I felt as if there were no springs and no support beneath me. I wasn’t sure it would have held the weight of my Pug. Thanks to the mold, which all the other stranded passengers sent there complained about, I left Atlanta with a sore throat, a runny nose, stuffed up sinuses, and a sinus migraine. At least the breakfast was free.

So, when I finally got home, I walked into a frigid house. This was a startling discovery since my thermostat is set to never let the temperature drop below 62°F. It was 49°F. Even my Pug was shivering. I quickly discovered that the furnace was dead and the forecast for the evening was 20°F below.

$126/hour (including travel time) plus parts later and my furnace had a new pump and new filters and was heating my home. I also learned that unsurprisingly my furnace was not up to code, just like the door to the garage or the wall it’s in or the floor in the dining room. Also, the coil in the boiler is pretty rusted and probably will need to be replaced, but the boiler/furnace is about 20 - 25 years old so it’s probably more efficient in the long run to replace the whole thing…after I save up quite a bit of money.

Meanwhile, I can sit and dread the repair bill as I write the check for last month’s heating oil bill that arrived while I was away — $600.

The next morning I discovered that the snow and ice on the roof had resulting in what they call an ice dam which had apparently forced some ice inside my house that had melted down my outer wall and into my bathroom wall. Granted I am planning on painting my bathroom this year, but I was planning on doing it much later this year and I didn’t plan on doing any drywall work as well.

My very nice neighbor who walks Pugly sometimes helped me find someone to come over and scrape my roof. Did you know they have roof scrapers or roof rakes? He did that plus shoveled my walk which is waist high for just $40.

To top it all off, on my commute home from work yesterday, an 18-wheeler type truck decided that I wasn’t going fast enough on the on-ramp to the Turnpike as I began to merge onto the Turnpike. He pulled out from behind me and passed me while still in the merge lane and the lane I was merging into. All I saw was big and red and I heard the scraping of metal. I’m very fortunate that the only damage was a mangled driver’s side mirror. I did not get a company name or license plate. He was speeding up even as I honked my horn. In fact, as I pulled to a stop on the side of the road, no one stopped.

Today I’m sort of wondering what else will happen. So far, 2008 has been very unlucky.